NEWS HEADLINES

Following the publication today in the Federal Register of the Final Rule for the qualification of crane operators, OSHA has provided further guidance and clarification on the effective dates of its new qualification requirements for crane operators. The two most important dates to be aware of are: November 10, 2018—Crane operators must be certified, and February 7, 2019—Employers must evaluate their crane operators.

All the latest news and views on crane operator certification, program integrity and a host of related matters were the focus of NCCCO’s Third Annual Forum on Personnel Qualifications that took place October 3 in Baltimore, MD.

NCCCO is pleased to announce the following Practical Examiner Accreditation Workshops to be held in Addis, LA:
• Rigger Level I to be held December 12–13, 2018
• Rigger Level II to be held December 14–15, 2018
• Rigger Refresher to be held December 10, 2018
• Signalperson to be held December 11, 2018
• Signalperson Refresher to be held December 11, 2018

OSHA has issued guidance to its compliance officers that will direct them to accept crane operator certifications that are based on type alone, rather than type and capacity. The guidance document published yesterday is intended to be an interim measure until the new final rule is published since this now looks unlikely to be before the language of the existing rule comes into effect on November 10, 2018.

NCCCO Auditors from across the country descended on the certification body’s Western Regional Office in Murray, Utah, in October to undertake their mandatory annual training to ensure they remain current with recent changes to CCO practical exams.

NCCCO is rolling out recertification exams for its newest programs. Recertification exams for Service Truck Crane Operators were launched in April, Digger Derrick Operator was released in September, and Lift Director will be available before the end of the year.

NCCCO Signalperson and Rigger Level I/Rigger Level II programs are experiencing a surge in activity with year-to-date figures showing up to a doubling of examinations being administered over the same period.

NCCCO recently showed how performance standards and assessments can enhance safety and reduce risk in the crane industry at the 2018 International Vocational Education and Training Association (IVETA) conference hosted by the South African College Principals Organization in Cape Town, South Africa.

NCCCO has reviewed OSHA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and has presented its responses, comments, and recommendations in a 13-page letter. Read the complete text of NCCCO’s comments on the Proposed Rule.

With OSHA’s November crane operator certification deadline looming, there’s never been a better time to discuss the certification, evaluation, and qualification of crane operators. And that’s exactly what we’ll be doing at NCCCO’s Third Annual Industry Forum on Personnel Qualifications.

The annual meeting of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) committee that oversees development and ongoing revision of the international crane standard took place in June in Helsinki, Finland.

After many years of dialogue with industry as to the meaning of certification and how it should be conducted, OSHA published a Proposed Rule towards the end of May that the agency hopes will fix the issues that have stood in the way of mandatory crane operator certification originally provided for in the crane rule published in 2010.

Violations of a certification body’s policies, including the code of ethics and substance abuse policy, can threaten the trustworthiness of a certification program and erode its integrity. NCCCO has always taken such matters very seriously and in line with its policy of continuing improvement, has announced two major enhancements to its program integrity tools.

Third five-year review is testimony to CCO certification integrity
After a top-to-bottom review of National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators’ (NCCCO) certification programs and internal procedures, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has reaffirmed the accreditation of all 11 CCO certification programs that NCCCO has submitted to ANSI for review.

Work is well underway on the new CCO certification program for Foundation Drill Rig Operators, which NCCCO is developing in conjunction with ADSC — The International Association of Foundation Drilling.

Two Decades On, Crane-Related Death and Serious Injury Significantly ReducedThe National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) today announced the 20th anniversary of its professionally developed and nationally accredited personnel certification programs.

A certified crane operator is not necessarily CCO-certified. Only NCCCO can provide the widely adopted and recognized CCO certification. While there are other companies that seek to certify crane operators, only one organization—the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO)—provides CCO certification. For nearly twenty years, successful completion of the CCO certification requirements has informed the world that a crane operator is certified to NCCCO's high standards. Both "NCCCO" and "CCO" are federally registered trademarks owned by NCCCO and used in connection with education testing and certification. br>
Learn more about CCO certification.

Sponsor Spotlight

The National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators gratefully recognizes the generous financial contributions of its sponsors without whom this program would not have been possible.